Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Date of Award

7-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Education (MEd)

Department

Curriculum & Instruction

First Advisor

Dr. Christopher M. Ledingham

Second Advisor

Dr. Murat Karabulut

Third Advisor

Dr. Terry P. Overton

Abstract

Breastfeeding has been recognized as the most cost effective practice to promote healthier babies among populations (Dennis, 2002). The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of an educational breastfeeding and a prenatal + breastfeeding program for individuals attending group classes and to compare the differences between Spanish only and English only versions of the curriculum. Two research questions were stated to know if there were significant differences between pre and post-tests scores and if there were any significant differences in the impact of the intervention between English only and Spanish only versions of the classes. The present investigation was a secondary data analysis from records of participants from the non-profit agency. The breast feeding only group class (BF) had a total of 30 participants attending Spanish and English classes, and the prenatal + breast feeding class (PreN+BF) had a total of 131 Spanish speaker participants. The classes were taught by a bilingual lactation consultant from 2012 to 2014 with duration of 90 minutes each class. A pre-test was given before the class and a post-test was given immediately after the conclusion of the class. Results indicated significant differences between pre and post-test scores of breast feeding knowledge suggesting that both programs were successful in increasing the scores from the breast feeding and prenatal care tests among participants. No significant differences between English and Spanish versions of the curriculum were found in the BF class. The reliability of the instruments was low indicating a low consistency of items from both questionnaires. Further research needs to be conducted to modify and implement a new curriculum and develop new instruments to assess the breastfeeding knowledge among participants.

Comments

Copyright 2014 Marcela Urbina Zavala. All Rights Reserved.

Granting Institution

University of Texas Brownsville

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